Monday, February 03, 2014

We're Not Going to Take It

How about that terrible waste of time and money game? Boring as it was, I was glad I watched for a few reasons – none of them about football. (Also, did you know the NLF, which makes $9 billion a year, has not paid a single cent in taxes since 1966? Awesome.) Given the ridiculous blowout, the ads were by far the most interesting thing about the whole overblown event. Well, that and the snacks. The vast majority were a combination of uninspired, unmemorable and unintelligible. Hey, VW, cool that you apparently only have all male engineers. Weird you’re in a car commercial, Bob Dylan. Seriously, Maserati? But there were a few standouts. I loved seeing Sarah McLachlan appear in an ad with a dog where I don’t want to cry and throw my wallet at the TV. I enjoyed the instant 80s flashback of Radio Shack. And the multi-culturalism and gay dads of Coke (yes, I know they’re still a problematic Sochi sponsor). And, of course, the puppy and the Clydesdale was just awwww.

But the best ad? That was the one for GoldieBlox with all the girls turning their pink and pastel toys into a rocket ship. The tiny little startup creates engineering toys for girls. Its mission is to “disrupt the pink aisle.” So how could a tiny fledgling business get one of the precious $4 million Super Bowl spots? It won Intuit’s Small Business, Big Game challenge by popular vote and got a chance to shine between all the beer, car and body spray ads. It seems so simple just still so revolutionary to say, “Girls like creating things other than princess hairstyles.” But now that I have both a niece and a nephew in prime toy-buying ages, it is not a joke. From the color-coded toy aisles to the learning/creating versus cooking/cleaning toy disparity, it’s no wonder we still have such rigid ideas of male and female roles. Remember when Lego ads used to look like this? Now there are BOYS’ and GIRLS’ Legos. Are you fucking kidding me? Yeah, well, screw that. Blow shit up, girls. Blow it all up.

Had a raging debate during the game with a woman that was defending the pink isle Legos and claiming a 7 year old girl who wrote to complain was just writing what her parents told her to write. And then she thought the girl should just put the girl people from the pink isle Lego kits in with the blue boy isle Lego kits. She could NOT wrap her mind around the concept that the "boy" kits should just be made with a mix of boy and girl people because a lot of kids like to imagine going on adventures...girls and boys. I hope this new company works out big time!

I happen to know the family of "Charlotte" the little seven-year-old girl who wrote the letter to Lego asking for the girls to go on adventures and swim with sharks like the boy Legos. Believe me, they are an awesome family and this child wrote the letter herself because she felt the sex- discrimination/injustice already at her young age. She's quite a kid. Her mom was appalled at the vitriol response of strangers when the letter happened to go viral. Little girls deserve to explore and engage and live their dreams every bit as much as little boys. Hope Lego gets the message!